Comfort
by AlwaysOverwhelmed
Summary: Scene writing set in season 7 of The Mentalist. Jane and Lisbon only.


Comfort

This story is set somewhere in the middle of Season 7 of The Mentalist, when Jane and Lisbon have taken a little break from dating (Due to Jane's extreme paranoia of bad things happening to people he loves), but are still very much in love. The story is not that tragic, because both are in constant contact with each other, at work and even late hours.

Light and consistent knocking on the door

Lisbon opens up…wearing a sweatshirt and lose pj's, her giant mug of hot chocolate in her left hand.

Jane opens his mouth to say something, stops mid-sentence and just glares, not blinking, not sure what to say.

She just leaves the door open and walks towards her couch. She curls up back again in the warm blanket kept there and tosses on the remote to freeze the screen of the movie she was watching briefly.

A little embarrassed that it's a sloppy rom-com, she wants to change channels but, gets a little late.

Jane is smiling inside, knowing perfectly well that beyond the very tough exterior and nonchalance of Lisbon, she is but a cute little girl who believes her prince charming is on his way, a little lost, but definitely on his way.

Jane, smiling his dreamy smile, removes his blazer, unbuttons his vest and folds the sleeves of his shirt as he makes himself comfortable on the couch kept next to Lisbon's.

He likes that she is stealing glances at him when she thinks he is not looking.

Overall the time they have spent together, these two somehow, enjoy the silence, others might find awkward.

Otherwise one to quickly fill the silences, Lisbon today makes no attempt to talk to Jane, and being the good mind reader he is, yet he somehow can't figure out what is the reason for Lisbon's sadness. It's most definitely him, it is. He just doesn't want to accept that.

Waving the thought out of his mind, he unfreezes the TV screen, leans back, with his legs on the couch, and starts watching the movie.

A kiss on the TV screen makes Lisbon awkward and she jolts towards her kitchen, mentioning under her breath whether he wants some instant noodles, she is making for herself.

After 5 minutes or so, indecisively, Jane walks to the kitchen and stations himself on a nearby platform.

So many things, things that he wanted to say to her crosses his mind, but he keeps quiet.

Maybe it was not the best timing, maybe he didn't want to upset their silence.

He can't help but get drawn toward the way Lisbon has done up her hair.

It is very untidy, a rubber band loosely supporting her hair that is curled up in a messy bun. He wishes he could play with her hair, Jane always has a thing for Lisbon's hair, but thinking back, he had a thing for a lot of things Lisbon.

Although Lisbon has not uttered a word to him, a little rude, all things considered, she thought, her heart was already thumping loudly with the fear, that he might leave soon. She didn't know why, but the idea of him leaving made her mad and angry. Completely irrational. She was behaving like a teenage girl, and that thought made her uneasy.

Noodles where delicious, they ate in silence, both wanting to say a thousand things, do a thousand things to each other, but both equally broken and scared.

She can't bear it anymore, so she asks, 'Sweet date, that girl you brought to Van Pelt and Rigsby's anniversary celebration'.

He just says, 'Not a date, Teresa. It was work related. Just so you know, I am not dating other women, OK?!'

'Ya, Okay.'

She wanted to demand answers, ask him what he was doing there, but she chooses not too. She didn't know what was stopping her, but her accelerated pulse and warm fuzzy feeling inside stopped her from saying anything.

Sensing that Jane was a little conflicted, not being able to decide whether to stay or go, she asked him whether he wanted to watch some movie, that was just about to start on TV.

He nodded, relieved.

She felt nice, at least for the next 2 to 3 hours, thank god for commercials, he was at her place, a naughty smile crossed her face, and it seemed to puzzle Jane!

Jane, being Jane, walks towards the room's thermostat and decreases the temperature of the room, just a little.

He knows her well, well enough to know that she is not one to lose her guard, not even to someone she loves immensely.

In one of the ad commercials, Jane quickly walks up to her bedroom and grabs one of his tees. He is amused at how well he knew every corner at Lisbon's house. Apart from the moments, they would steal, away from the world, in Jane's trailer, their next favourite hang out place was Lisbon's apartment.

When he walks back into the room, he has a freakish smile on his face, like a teenage boy has just been kissed for the very first time. Anyway, it seems to piss of Lisbon a little more than it should have.

She misses him. Misses the feel of this arm around her, she misses his scent and the feel of his smile so near her face. She misses being the only person who gets to be so physically close to this impossible man. She misses him in the most innocent ways.

She notices how he has changed in his t-shirt. Its one of those moments where she can't help but stare at him. God, she rarely gets a chance of seeing him outside of his vest and blazer!

Jane comes and makes himself comfortable very close to Lisbon. Their arms are all, but touching.

The tension amongst them can be cut with a knife. They have so much to say, so much to feel, but both are so afraid and wounded.

Moments pass and both are just staring blankly at the screen, waiting for the other to make a move.

Halfway across a sloppy dialogue between the protagonist and his girl, Jane just switches off the TV, turns completely towards Lisbon and makes eye contact. Jane has one of those intense eyes as he can reach the depths of someone's soul through their eyes.

Lisbon can't handle it anymore and two small trickles of tears roll down her cheek, making her green eyes misty.

He just pulls her into an embrace, and they both hug each other tightly, taking deep breaths.

Jane's hands are shaking, his fingers are violently intertwined with hers and Lisbon has her head buried safely inside his chest.

He tries to calm her down, tries to make her stop sobbing, but in vain.

Moments later, Jane briefly interrupts their hug, gets up slowly to shut the lights, lock the main door and slips right back in their blanket.

They lie on the couch, drifting into a comfortable sleep, interrupted occasionally by light stroking of each other's arms and tighter grips.

It is comfortable and peaceful. And somehow they know that they both need it.


End file.
